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A review by jajorgen
A Soldier's Duty by Jean Johnson
4.0
Ia is a precognitive young woman who has seen the future and it ain't good. Her ability to dip into the timestreams has given her knowledge no person should have and yet... What can she do but try to change things? If she does not her world and every other world in the galaxy is going to be destroyed in the future. Every step she takes from the age of 15 is meant to prepare her to be in the right places at the right times to prevent that catastrophe. Her first step? Join the marines.
This first novel in what is probably going to be a trilogy at least spends a lot of time with Ia making her way through basic training in the outback of Australia and working her first military assignments. All the while she is carefully managing her efforts and those of the people who will eventually have an impact on the worlds. Because she comes from a world with heavier gravity she is ideally suited to be a soldier and she puts her natural abilities to good use.
I've not read Jean Johnson before so I came to this one without much knowledge of the book or author. I'm not even sure how it came to my attention - since I love military sci-fi with competent heroines, I may have found this one in my quest to find the next good book. However I found it, I'm glad I did. Johnson world-building is first class and her development of Ia never falters. Because of Ia's psychic abilities and extra strength she could have been a Mary Sue. She isn't. Johnson slowly builds her back story and makes it clear that none of Ia's choices comes easy or without pain.
I've chosen four stars for this one but it really falls into the 4 1/2 range. That half star demerit comes only in the fact that some of her missions become a bit episodic at about the 3/4ths point in the book. The author then picks up the pace again and the threads of where all these pieces fit, but for a bit it dragged.
That said, I can't wait for the next to come out.
This first novel in what is probably going to be a trilogy at least spends a lot of time with Ia making her way through basic training in the outback of Australia and working her first military assignments. All the while she is carefully managing her efforts and those of the people who will eventually have an impact on the worlds. Because she comes from a world with heavier gravity she is ideally suited to be a soldier and she puts her natural abilities to good use.
I've not read Jean Johnson before so I came to this one without much knowledge of the book or author. I'm not even sure how it came to my attention - since I love military sci-fi with competent heroines, I may have found this one in my quest to find the next good book. However I found it, I'm glad I did. Johnson world-building is first class and her development of Ia never falters. Because of Ia's psychic abilities and extra strength she could have been a Mary Sue. She isn't. Johnson slowly builds her back story and makes it clear that none of Ia's choices comes easy or without pain.
I've chosen four stars for this one but it really falls into the 4 1/2 range. That half star demerit comes only in the fact that some of her missions become a bit episodic at about the 3/4ths point in the book. The author then picks up the pace again and the threads of where all these pieces fit, but for a bit it dragged.
That said, I can't wait for the next to come out.